McCook Daily Gazette: Local News: Gonzales appointed to council (11/03/09)

City Clerk Lea Ann Doak administers the oath of office to Mike Gonzales, who accepted appointment to the City Council to fill the position left vacant by the death of Colleen Grant.
(Lorri Sughroue/McCook Daily Gazette)

[Click to enlarge]

Mike Gonzales was sworn-in as the newest member of the McCook City Council, as the council unanimously approved the former school board member at a regular meeting Monday night.

Steve Batty told the council at the start of the meeting that he was withdrawing his name from consideration and was throwing his support behind Gonzales, executive director of the McCook YMCA.

Others vying for the seat left open by the death of Colleen Grant were Gonzales, Shane Hilker, Steve Keene and Fred Shepherd.

Councilman Aaron Kircher started things off by making a motion for Shane Hilker. The motion died for lack of a second and Mayor Dennis Berry made a motion to nominate Gonzales, which was seconded by Councilman Lonnie Anderson.

All of the candidates then told the council a few details about themselves before Gonzales was voted in.

Councilman Kircher said he was impressed with the vision and passion of Hilker and noted that Hilker had been attending council meetings before the vacancy. Mayor Berry added that all the candidates had real strengths and that it was a strong field to choose from.

Later, during council comments at the end of the meeting, Mayor Berry thanked the candidates again and Councilman Kircher said he was encouraged by the number of applicants. He noted that there will be four spots open on the council in the November 2010 election, so at least eight people could be contending for the seats.

Kircher said the field of applicants he saw Monday night made him hopeful that more were stepping up for their community.

Glad to see that the council selected a person with maturity and experience.

-- Posted by dennis on Tue, Nov 3, 2009, at 2:10 PM

Dennis. Please expand on that comment. Is that to mean that you feel that the current council is immature and don't have that much experience? Or are you directing that to the rest of the field of candidates? If Mike aligns himself with Councilman Kircher in his statements about reducing the city debt and spending then McCook will have a very solid council member.

-- Posted by sleeper on Wed, Nov 4, 2009, at 4:52 AM

Or maybe he just feels that Mike Gonzales has maturity and experience. Not every simple comment has to be a backhanded slap to other people.

-- Posted by bjo on Wed, Nov 4, 2009, at 11:09 AM

Sleeper, bjo had it exactly right. It was a comment of support for Mike, not a shot at the others. As to spending I think the entire council has basically voted in the best fiscal manner for McCook. The levy has not gone up in years and the service seems to have been improved.

-- Posted by dennis on Wed, Nov 4, 2009, at 3:44 PM